Help block drilling in a Colorado wildlife refuge

The Bush administration is poised to allow two giant energy companies to drill exploratory oil and gas wells up to 14,000 feet beneath Colorado's spectacular Baca National Wildlife Refuge.

Last year, BioGems Defenders and other NRDC online activists sent more than 48,000 messages protesting this destructive drilling scheme. Despite this outcry, the Bush administration is moving forward with the plan, which could pave the way for massive industrialization of the Baca Refuge.

The Baca refuge is an important calving ground for deer and elk and provides a natural sanctuary for imperiled wildlife, including the ferruginous hawk, the threatened burrowing owl, the greater and lesser sandhill crane and the Rio Grande sucker, an endangered fish. Over 4,000 elk depend on the area for critical winter habitat and calving grounds to shelter newborns.

Thousands of migrating birds visit the refuge each spring and fall, and hundreds of ancient Native American artifacts lie buried under ancient layers of sand. World-class archeological sites dating back some 11,500 years have been found nearby.

The proposed drilling project threatens to transform this irreplaceable wildland into an industrial zone - contaminating air, land and waterways and unleashing a barrage of drilling-related traffic and noise. Even the adjacent Great Sand Dunes National Park could be at risk.

Energy companies currently own the rights to oil and gas reserves beneath the refuge. But the Bush administration has the authority to block reckless and destructive industrialization on these lands.